Mack Brown explains lack of usage for Omarion Hampton

One of the real question marks in North Carolina‘s stunning upset loss to Virginia was the seeming lack of usage of tailback Omarion Hampton in the second half.

After running it 14 times for 76 yards in the first half, Hampton saw only five carries in the second half. North Carolina’s coaches came out admitting that was a mistake following the 31-27 loss.

“Absolutely. He wants to win,” head coach Mack Brown said. “Chip (Lindsey)‘s a great guy, and he’s done a tremendous job. And he’s got Freddie Kitchens, who’s brilliant, sitting next to him. Sometimes you want to win so badly you miss him. That’s just what happens. I’ve called them before and you get through and you say, ‘God, how’d I miss that? What happened? Why did that get away?'”

In a game when quarterback Drake Maye was struggling to hit his receivers as consistently as he normally does, the lack of involvement for the key running back in the second half was perplexing.

Brown didn’t deny that it was a mistake not involving him more, only noted that the process is difficult and it can occasionally happen.

“It’s a hard job. It is,” Brown said of the play-calling. “It is really a hard job and people have no concept of how hard it is to call plays and call defenses, because they’ve never done it.”

Lindsey, the offensive coordinator, will shoulder the blame for not using the team’s lead running back a bit more frequently in the second half.

Omarion Hampton has already run for 770 yards and eight touchdowns this season.

Brown defended his play-caller, though, noting how difficult the job is. North Carolina will try to be a bit more balanced in its distribution of touches going forward.

But the head coach emphasized how difficult the job is repeatedly.

“It’s unfair to ask people when you’ve got about 15 seconds and you’re up there and you’re going fast and everything’s happening, and I have to tell all the coaches to shut up because they’re wanting to win, so they’re all giving suggestions to the poor soul,” Brown said. “‘Call this.’ I say, ‘Shut up and let him call the plays. You talk during timeouts. You talk when the offense is off the field. You don’t talk to a coordinator while he’s trying to think.’ But it’s a hard job. And when we run up and down the field everybody says, ‘God, he did great, or it’s great.’ They get a lot of credit, but they get a lot of criticism.”